Titan America LLC and Essroc Cement Corp. have signed a cooperative multi-year agreement to jointly utilise Titan America’s Essex cement import terminal at Port Newark, New Jersey, upon completion of the modernization program underway. This will allow Titan to make better utilisation of its terminal investment and enable Essroc to meet anticipated demand following shutdown of its Nazareth 3 line.

Titan America has already started major renovation and construction work at the terminal. The project will be completed mid-2006, resulting in additional capacity thanks to a state-of-the-art storage and loading facility with a new 62,000st silo complex. The terminal will continue to be operated by Essex, but each company will sell and market under its own organization.

The agreement is balanced by a reciprocal arrangement whereby Titan America will import at their terminals in Norfolk, Virginia, and Tampa, Florida cement supplied by foreign affiliates of the Italcementi Group, Essroc’s parent company. As a result, Titan America will be able to meet growing demand in the markets served by these terminals.

Titan America’s group of companies is one of the premier cement and building materials producers in the Eastern United States. Operations include cement plants, ready-mix concrete plants, concrete block plants, quarries, cement terminals, as well as fly ash production facilities. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, Titan America operates all of the U.S. assets for its parent company, Titan Cement Company SA, headquartered in Athens, Greece.